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United States Patent |
5,581,282
|
Okamura
|
December 3, 1996
|
Ink jet recording apparatus with two cleaning members
Abstract
An ink jet recording apparatus comprises a recording head having in a
surface thereof ink discharge openings for discharging ink and a first
cleaning member disposed at a non-recording area offset from a recording
area and opposed to the recording head for removing foreign matter
including ink by scrubbing the surface. A second cleaning member is
disposed at a side area of the recording head for scrubbingly cleaning
foreign matter including ink adhered to said first cleaning member. The
second cleaning member has an introducing path into which is introduced
the foreign matter including ink adhered to the first cleaning member and
an absorbing member disposed at an end portion of the introducing path for
collecting the foreign matter including ink introduced into the
introducing path from the first cleaning member. In the apparatus
different color inks are cleaned by the first cleaning member in the order
of a lighter ink to a darker ink color.
Inventors:
|
Okamura; Shigeru (Kawasaki, JP)
|
Assignee:
|
Canon Kabushiki Kaisha (Tokyo, JP)
|
Appl. No.:
|
376653 |
Filed:
|
January 20, 1995 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
| Oct 31, 1986[JP] | 61-260026 |
| Oct 27, 1987[JP] | 62-270842 |
Current U.S. Class: |
347/33 |
Intern'l Class: |
B41J 002/165 |
Field of Search: |
347/33,22
15/250.19,256.5
|
References Cited
U.S. Patent Documents
3987492 | Oct., 1976 | Kraus | 347/43.
|
4024548 | May., 1977 | Alonso | 347/34.
|
4320406 | Mar., 1982 | Heinzl | 347/43.
|
4511907 | Apr., 1985 | Fukuchi | 347/43.
|
4635078 | Jan., 1987 | Sakurada et al. | 347/43.
|
4675696 | Jun., 1987 | Suzuki | 347/43.
|
4745414 | May., 1988 | Okamura et al. | 347/33.
|
5182582 | Jan., 1993 | Okamura | 347/33.
|
Foreign Patent Documents |
3316970 | Nov., 1983 | DE | .
|
3611333 | Oct., 1986 | DE | .
|
3611666 | Oct., 1988 | DE | .
|
59-14964 | Jan., 1984 | JP | .
|
59-45161 | Mar., 1984 | JP | .
|
209876 | Nov., 1984 | JP | .
|
60-163571 | Aug., 1985 | JP | .
|
61-230948 | Oct., 1986 | JP | .
|
2113553 | May., 1987 | JP | .
|
Other References
IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, vol. 27, No. 12, May 1985 "Nozzle Guard
and Maintenance Station For Drop-on-Demand Print Heads".
Quinn Jr., P. A.; Disposable Porous Insert For Deflection Plate Of Ink Jet
Printer, IBM TDB, V22, N8A, Jan. 1980, p. 3296.
|
Primary Examiner: Hartary; Joseph W.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto
Parent Case Text
This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/079,853 filed
Jun. 22, 1993, now abandoned, which in turn is a continuation of
application Ser. No. 07/818,099 filed Jan. 8, 1992, now abandoned, which
in turn is a continuation of application Ser. No. 07/442,456 filed Nov.
30, 1989, now abandoned, which in turn is a continuation of application
Ser. No. 07/113,998 filed Oct. 29, 1987, now abandoned.
Claims
I claim:
1. An ink jet recording apparatus comprising:
recording means having in a surface thereof ink discharge openings for
discharging ink;
a first cleaning member disposed at a non-recording area offset from a
recording area where recording is effected by said recording means and
opposed to said recording means for removing from said surface ink and
particulate foreign matter by scrubbing said surface during relative
movement of said recording means and said first cleaning member; and
a second cleaning member having a rigid member for contacting and deforming
said first cleaning member during relative movement of said first cleaning
member and said second cleaning member to scrubbingly clean ink and
particulate foreign matter adhered to said first cleaning member, said
second cleaning member including an absorbing member and said rigid member
having an introducing path by which the ink and particulate foreign matter
cleaned from said first cleaning member are led to said absorbing member
disposed at a terminal end of said introducing path for trapping the ink
and particulate foreign matter introduced into said introducing path from
said first cleaning member.
2. An ink let recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said
recording means comprises plural members for recording using different
color inks to effect full color recording, said different color inks are
cleaned by said first cleaning member in the order of a lighter ink to a
darker ink color, a given ink being lighter than another ink if the color
of a mixture of those two inks is closer to the color of the other ink
than to the color of the given ink, and said first cleaning member is
thereafter cleaned by said second cleaning member.
3. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the
cleaning of said recording means by said first cleaning member and the
cleaning of said first cleaning member by said second cleaning member are
performed plural times.
4. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the
cleaning of said first cleaning member by said second cleaning member is
performed plural times.
5. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising
moving means for moving said recording means and said second cleaning
member relative to said first cleaning member.
6. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said
introducing path includes at least one hole through said rigid member.
7. A method of cleaning an ink jet recording apparatus comprising recording
means having in a surface thereof ink discharge openings for discharging
ink, a first cleaning member disposed at a non-recording area offset from
a recording area where recording is effected by said recording means and
opposed to said recording means for removing from said surface ink and
particulate foreign matter by scrubbing said surface during relative
movement of said recording means and said first cleaning member, and a
second cleaning member having a rigid member for contacting and deforming
said first cleaning member during relative movement of said first cleaning
member and said second cleaning member to scrubbingly clean ink and
particulate foreign matter adhered to said first cleaning member, said
second cleaning member including an absorbing member and said rigid member
having an introducing path by which the ink and particulate foreign matter
cleaned from said first cleaning member are led to said absorbing member
disposed at a terminal end of said introducing path for trapping the ink
and particulate foreign matter introduced into said introducing path from
said first cleaning member, and said method comprising the steps of:
moving said recording means and said first cleaning member relative to each
other to scrub said surface with said first cleaning member;
thereafter moving said first cleaning member and said second cleaning
member relative to each other in a first direction to scrubbingly clean a
first side of said first cleaning member; and
thereafter moving said first cleaning member and said second cleaning
member relative to each other in a second direction to scrubbingly clean a
second side of said first cleaning member.
8. An ink jet recording apparatus according to claim 7, wherein said
recording means comprises plural members for recording using different
color inks to effect full color recording, said different color inks are
cleaned by said first cleaning member in the order of a lighter ink to a
darker ink color, a given ink being lighter than another ink if the color
of a mixture of those two inks is closer to the color of the other ink
than to the color of the given ink, and said first cleaning member is
thereafter cleaned by said second cleaning member.
9. A method of cleaning an ink jet recording apparatus according to claim
7, wherein said introducing path includes at least one hole through said
rigid member.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus having
wiping means for cleaning the ink discharge port faces of the recording
heads of the apparatus and to a method of cleaning such apparatus.
2. Related Background Art
An ink jet recording apparatus is such that ink is supplied into a
recording head, discharge energy generating means (an electro-thermal
converting member such as a heat generating resistor element or an
electro-mechanical converting member such as a piezo element corresponding
to an ink discharge port formed in the front face of the recording head)
is driven on the basis of a data signal, ink is caused to fly from the ink
discharge port toward a sheet (a recording medium such as paper or plastic
thin film) and droplets of this ink are caused to adhere thereto, thereby
accomplishing recording.
In an ink jet recording apparatus of this type, for the purpose of
preventing the ink discharge port from being clogged due to the increased
viscosity of ink resulting from the evaporation of the solvent in the ink,
the desiccation of the ink, the adherence of dust or the entry of bubbles,
there is provided restoring means for carrying out the capping of the ink
discharge port or the cleaning of the ink discharge port face as by
wiping.
The function of such restoring means can be divided broadly into the
function of cleaning the ink discharge port face and the ink suction
function of removing bubbles in the ink discharge port and ink which has
increased in viscosity.
Now, in an ink jet recording apparatus for color images, use may be made of
inks of plural colors and a plurality of recording heads corresponding to
the respective colors. In such case, the colors of the inks used are
usually four colors such as cyan, magenta, yellow and black.
Also, in some cases, recording is effected by the use of a plurality of
inks identical in hue and differing in light and shade, and again in such
cases, a plurality of recording heads are carried on the apparatus in
conformity with the number of the inks.
In an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a plurality of recording
heads for discharging such inks of plural colors respectively, cleaning
means for cleaning the ink discharge port face of each recording head
becomes necessary.
In such case, the provision of cleaning means for each recording head has
led to the problem that the number of parts is increased and the structure
of the apparatus becomes complex and the reliability of the apparatus is
reduced. Also, juxtaposition of the cleaning means has led to a greater
width of the recording apparatus, which in turn has prevented the
apparatus from being made compact and light in weight.
If, therefore, all the ink discharge port faces of the plurality of
recording heads are cleaned by a single cleaning means, there has
sometimes arisen the problem that mixing of the inks of plural colors
occurs on the cleaning means while the cleaning is repeatedly effected.
This has sometimes resulted in the occurrence of the problem that the
mixed inks having adhered to the cleaning means adhere from the cleaning
means back to the ink discharge ports and the colors of the inks
discharged from the ink discharge ports are changed thereby during the
recording operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to provide an ink jet recording
apparatus which can solve the above-noted problems peculiar to the prior
art and in which the ink discharge port faces of recording heads can be
effectively cleaned by a simple structure, and a method of cleaning such
apparatus.
In accordance with the present invention, an ink jet recording apparatus
comprises recording means having in a surface thereof ink discharge
openings for discharging ink, a first cleaning member disposed at a
non-recording area offset from a recording area where recording is
effected by said recording means and opposed to said recording means for
removing foreign matter including ink by scrubbing said surface, and a
second cleaning member, disposed at a side area of said recording means,
for scrubbingly cleaning foreign matter including ink adhered to said
first cleaning member, said second cleaning member having an introducing
path into which is introduced the foreign matter including ink adhered to
said first cleaning member and an absorbing member disposed at an end
portion of said introducing path for collecting the foreign matter
including ink introduced into said introducing path from said first
cleaning member.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the construction of the
essential portions of an embodiment of an ink jet recording apparatus
according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a schematic front view taken along line II--II in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a schematic front view of a carriage taken along line III--III in
FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a schematic front view showing the restoring means in FIG. 1.
FIG. 5 is a schematic side view of wiping means taken along line V--V in
FIG. 4.
FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C and 6D are schematic fragmentary front views for
illustrating the cleaning operation of the wiping means.
FIG. 7 is a schematic front view of a support plate 35 in FIGS. 6A, 6B, 6C
and 6D.
FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the restoring operation of the ink
jet recording apparatus of the present invention.
FIG. 9 is a schematic pictorial perspective view showing the ink jet
recording apparatus of the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The present invention will hereinafter be described specifically with
reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view showing the construction of the
essential portions of an embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus of
the present invention.
In FIG. 1, a carriage 2 carrying a plurality of (in the illustrated
embodiment, four) recording heads 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D is supported and
guided by pair of guide shafts 3.
The drive force of a carriage motor 4 is transmitted to the carriage 2
through a timing belt 5, so that the carriage slides on the pair of guide
shafts 3 and moves along a platen 6. The carriage 2 reciprocally scans
with forward and reverse revolutions of the motor 4. A predetermined gap
(for example, of the order of 0.8 mm) is provided between the front faces
(the discharge port faces in which ink discharge ports are formed) of the
recording heads 1A-1D on the carriage and the platen 6 (more particularly,
a sheet supported by the platen).
During the scanning movement of the carriage 2, a recording signal is input
to the recording heads 1A-1D through flexible wiring 7, and the recording
heads 1A-1D are driven at a timing associated with the position of the
carriage 2 to discharge inks, thereby accomplishing recording on a sheet
(a recording medium such as paper or plastic thin film) on the platen 6.
During recording, dust or paper scraps may adhere to the vicinity of the
ink discharge port(s) of the recording heads 1A-1D or air may be
introduced through the ink discharge port(s), thereby causing
unsatisfactory discharge of inks.
Generally, in an ink jet recording apparatus, there is installed restoring
means RP for restoring such unsatisfactory discharge of inks.
When a restoring key (not shown) is operated to restore the unsatisfactory
discharge of inks, the recording operation is interrupted and the carriage
2 is moved toward the restoring means RP.
With this movement of the carriage 2 toward the restoring means RP, an idle
pulley 8 supporting the rotation of the timing belt 5 at one end thereof
is rotated. With this rotation of the idle pulley 8, a planetary gear
group 9 for speed reduction is also rotated which is provided coaxially
therewith.
When the carriage 2 moves to a predetermined position toward the restoring
means RP, a lever 10 engaged with a can slot in the last gear (not shown)
of the planetary gear group 9 is pivotally moved about a shaft 11 in the
direction of arrow A by an amount determined by the cam slot.
As the lever 10 is pivotally moved in the direction of arrow A, a stay 12
engaged with the fore end of the lever 10 slides in the direction of arrow
B and a plate 13 fixed to the stay 12 also moves in the direction of arrow
B.
This plate 13 is engaged with the circumferential groove 15 of a ratchet
gear 14, which is free to rotate but is axially movable with the plate 13.
Accordingly, when the plate 13 moves in the direction of arrow B, the
ratchet gear 14 is changed over from a state in which it is in meshing
engagement with a ratchet gear 16 to a state in which it meshes with a
ratchet gear 17.
Upon this change-over, the revolution of a sheet feeding motor (hereinafter
referred to as the LF motor) 18 may be transmitted to the ratchet gear 17
through an LF motor gear 19, an idle gear 20 and the ratchet gear 14.
The ratched gear 17 has formed integrally therewith a gear portion which is
in meshing engagement with a gear 21 with a dowel. This gear 21 with a
dowel is the input gear of the restoring means RP and therefore, upon the
aforementioned change-over to the direction of arrow B, the restoring
means RP becomes driven by the LF motor 18.
The position of the carriage 2 is controlled with the home position
detected by a home position sensor (not shown) installed at the left end
portion being as the reference.
When the restoring key is operated as previously mentioned, the carriage 2
moves to a position in which the recording heads 1A-1D are opposed to
corresponding caps 22A, 22B, 22C and 22D, respectively. In this position,
as previously described, the LF motor 18 is changed over to the driving
side of the restoring means RP and accordingly, the restoring operation is
performed.
A wiping operation for cleaning the ink discharge port faces (the faces in
which the ink discharge ports are formed) of the recording heads 1A-1D is
carried out as one restoring operation, and wiping means therefor will
hereinafter be described. This wiping means is designed to wipe the ink
discharge port faces by means of a cleaning blade 24.
As the LF (line feed) motor 18 revolves, the gear 21 with a dowel is
rotated and the dowel 23 comes into engagement with the rear end portion
25 of the cleaning blade 24, and the cleaning blade is protruded toward
the carriage 2 against the force of a return spring (not shown) which
biases the cleaning blade toward the LF motor 18.
The LF motor 18 is stopped when the gear 21 with a dowel has rotated from
its initial position of FIG. 1 to a position in which the dowel 23 presses
and displaces the rear end portion 25 of the cleaning blade 24.
By the aforementioned revolution of the LF motor 18, the rotary cam (not
shown) of the restoring means RP which rotates at the final deceleration
is also rotated at the same time, and a cap housing 27 which supports
rubber caps 22A-22D tends to move toward the recording heads 1A-1D, but
since the reduction ratios of the gear 21 with a dowel and the rotary cam
of the restoring means RP from the LF motor 18 differ greatly from each
other, the movement of the cap housing 27 can be neglected, and the gaps
between the caps 22A-22D and the recording heads 1A-1D hardly vary, and
the caps and the recording heads do not contact with each other.
When the cleaning blade 24 constituting the wiping means is protruded by
the rotation of the gear 21 with a dowel, the pawl 28 of the cleaning
blade 24 depresses the pawl 30 of a holding lever 29 pivotally connected
to the lower portion thereof and operates so as to ride over the latter
(FIG. 5).
Accordingly, the holding lever 29 is rotated counter-clockwise direction
about a lever shaft 31 against the force of a return spring (not shown),
and the pawl 28 of the cleaning blade 24 is caught by the pawl 30 of the
holding lever 29, whereby the cleaning blade 24 is held in its protruded
position.
With the cleaning blade 24 being protruded, the carriage 2 is moved toward
the platen 6 (rightwardly as viewed in FIG. 1), and wiping of the ink
discharge port faces of the recording heads 1A-1D is effected by a blade
32 attached to the tip end of the cleaning blade 24.
When the carriage 2 is thus moved from left to right, the resetting pawl 33
(FIG. 3) of the carriage 2 comes into engagement with the end pawl 34 of
the holding lever 29, and the holding lever 29 is depressed
counter-clockwise as viewed in FIG. 1, whereby the engagement between the
pawl 28 of the cleaning blade 24 and the pawl 30 of the holding lever 29
is released temporarily.
Therefore, the cleaning blade 24 tends to retract away from the recording
heads 1A-1D due to the action of a return spring (FIG. 5), but in this
case, the cleaning blade 24 is prevented from retracting by the gear 21
with a dowel and therefore, even if the resetting pawl 33 of the carriage
2 passes, the cleaning blade 24 is held in its protruded position.
During the time that the carriage 2 is further moved rightwardly, wiping of
the ink discharge port faces of the recording heads 1A-1D is effected.
In this case, in the period which is before the revolutionary force of the
LF motor 18 is changed to the platen 6 driving side by the movement of the
carriage 2 and during which the pawl 30 of the holding lever 29 is
positioned between the pair of resetting pawls 33 and 35 (FIG. 3) of the
carriage 2, the LF motor 18 is changed over to the reverse revolution
opposite to the forward revolution during the restoring operation and is
reversely revolved to its initial position, and the gear 21 with a dowel
is returned to its position of FIG. 1.
By the reverse revolution of the LF motor 18, the gear 21 with a dowel
makes one or more full reverse rotations, but in that case, the dowel 23
of the gear 21 with a dowel passes through an escape groove 49 (FIG. 2) at
the rear end 25 of the cleaning blade 24 and gradually returns to its
original position while raising the cleaning blade 24 in the direction of
arrow C (FIG. 2) against the force of a spring 50 (FIG. 2). Therefore, the
cleaning blade 24 does not protrude to the ink discharge port side.
The sequence of wiping of the plurality of recording heads 1A-1D is chosen
such that the recording head for discharging ink of light color is cleaned
at first and the recording head for discharging ink of dark color is
cleaned lastly. By this, color mixing in the course of wiping can be made
entirely inconspicuous.
For example, where the ink jet recording apparatus of FIG. 1 is a color
printer using inks of four colors, i.e., cyan, magenta, yellow and black,
it is preferable the recording head 1A to be wiped at first be one which
discharges yellow ink and the recording head 1D to be wiped lastly be one
which discharges black ink. The intermediate recording heads 1B and 1C are
chosen to be cyan and magenta respectively.
Yellow, cyan, magenta and black herein referred to, if expressed
specifically in numerical values by "CIE 1976 (L*a*b* ) Color Space"
defined by C. I.E. (International Illumination Committee), are colors in
the vicinity of the following:
______________________________________
L* a* b*
______________________________________
Yellow 97 -10 42
Cyan 79 -32 -33
Magenta 73 65 -16.5
Black 43 10 -20
______________________________________
In the case of a recording apparatus using light and dark inks of the same
hue, it is preferable to choose a light color to a dark color in the order
of the recording heads 1A-1D.
The definition of the, "light color" and "dark color" when use is made of
light and dark inks of the same hue is as follows:
Light color: high in brightness,
high in chroma
Dark color: low in brightness,
low in chroma
Examples of the light color and dark color in the present invention are
shown in Table 1 below.
TABLE 1
______________________________________
No. 1 2 3 4
______________________________________
Light color
Yellow Yellow Yellow
Cyan
Dark color Cyan Magenta Black Black
______________________________________
No. 5 6 7
______________________________________
Light color
Magenta Yellow Yellow
(high brightness)
(high chroma
Dark color
Black Yellow Yellow
(low brightness)
(low chroma)
______________________________________
No. 8 9 10
______________________________________
Light color
Cyan Cyan Magenta
(high (high (high
brightness)
chroma) brightness)
Dark color
Cyan Cyan Magenta
(low (low (low
brightness)
chroma) brightness)
______________________________________
No. 11 12 13
______________________________________
Light color
Megenta Black Black
(high (high (high
chroma) brightness) chroma)
Dark color
Magenta Black Black
(low (low (low
chroma) brightness) chroma)
______________________________________
In the present invention, where use is made of ink A of a certain color and
ink B of a different color, when the color of the mixture of these inks is
more approximate to the color of said ink B than to the color of said ink
A, the color of said ink A is regarded as light color and the color of
said ink B is regarded as dark color.
Removal of foreign substances such as ink droplets or dust which have
adhered to the cleaning blade 24 by the ink discharge port faces being
wiped is effected, for example, by the use of second cleaning means having
a rigid support plate 37 provided on the carriage and an absorber 36
supported by the support plate 37.
After the termination of the cleaning of the discharge port faces of the
recording heads 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D (the state of FIG. 6A), the carriage 2
is further moved in the direction of arrow FD, and in the state of FIG.
6B, foreign substances such as ink droplets or dust having adhered to that
side of the cleaning blade 24 which is designated by 24-1 are removed by
the edge 37-1 of the support plate 37 and absorbed by the absorber 36.
Removal of foreign substances such as ink droplets or dust having come
round and adhered to that side of the cleaning blade 24 which is
designated by 24-2 is accomplished by moving the carriage 2 to the state
of FIG. 6C relative to the cleaning blade 24, thereafter moving the
carriage 2 in the direction of arrow BK, removing the foreign substances
by the edge 37-2 of the support plate 37 in the state of FIG. 6D, and
absorbing the foreign substances by the absorber 36.
The carriage 2 is further moved from the state of FIG. 6D, and the cycle of
removing the ink droplets having adhered to the cleaning blade 24 is
terminated in the state of FIG. 6A.
Removal of ink droplets may be accomplished by the cycle of returning from
the operation in the above-described sequence of FIGS. 6A, B, C and D to
the state of FIG. 6A via the movement in the direction of arrow C (FIG. 2)
and repeating a similar operation, and the cleaning effect will be further
enhanced if such cycle is repeated plural times.
In FIG. 7 which shows a schematic front view of the support plate 37 for
the absorber 36 as seen in the direction of arrow E in FIG. 6C, a number
of small apertures 37H are formed in the flat portion 37F of the support
plate 37 for the absorber 36, and ink droplets which could not be removed
by the edges 37-1 and 37-2 during the aforedescribed operation of removing
the ink droplets having adhered to the cleaning blade 24 move into the
small apertures 37H due to the capillary force of the small apertures 37H
during the time that the cleaning blades 24-1 and 24-2 lick the flat
portion 37F. The apertures provide an introducing path through which the
ink droplets containing the foreign matter led to and absorbed by the
absorber 36 at the terminal end of the introducing path.
The above-described cleaning operation by the wiping means may be executed
plural times with the carriage 2 reciprocally moved.
The flow of the above-described wiping of the discharge port faces of the
recording heads 1A-1D and cleaning of the cleaning blade 24 will now be
supplementally described with reference to the restoring operation flow
chart of FIG. 8.
Cleaning of the recording heads 1A-1D and cleaning blade 24 is terminated
and the carriage 2 waits in the position of FIG. 6A relative to the
cleaning blade 24. (See the step at which the carriage 2 moves to the
position of FIG. 6A toward the home position.) At this step, the carriage
2 moves from the position of FIG. 6C to the position of FIG. 6A via the
position of FIG. 6D.
The subsequent steps between the step at which the discharge port faces of
the recording heads 1A-1D are cleaned and the step at which the carriage 2
moves to a predetermined position (until the blade 24 passes by the
cleaning means) are the steps for cleaning the blade. The step at which
the carriage 2 moves to the predetermined position corresponds to FIGS.
6A-C.
Advance is made to a step at which whether cleaning of the blade 24 should
be repeated is judged, and if it is desired to repeat the cleaning, it is
also possible to skip between a step at which the blade 24 is protruded
and a step at which the carriage 2 moves toward the blade 24. At the step
whereat the necessity of repeating the cleaning of the blade 24 is judged,
if the answer is NO, advance is made to a step at which the presence of a
printing signal is judged, and if judgment YES is formed at that step, the
carriage 2 moves in the direction of arrow FD and starts printing from a
predetermined position. At that-time, the cleaning blade 24 goes through
the states of FIGS. 6B and C. The cleaning blade 24 returns to its initial
position by the resetting pawl 35 of the carriage 2 depressing the holding
lever 29.
When no printing signal is present (that is, when judgment NO is formed),
advance is made to a step at which the presence of a capping signal is
judged, and when no capping signal is present (that is, when judgment NO
is formed), the carriage 2 waits in that position. On the other hand, when
a capping signal is present (that is, when judgment YES is formed),
advance is made to step Y.
Step Y will now be described. Step Y is the state of FIG. 6(A) and
therefore, when the carriage 2 is scanned toward the home position (in the
direction of arrow BK), the cleaning blade 24 will wipe the discharge port
faces of the recording heads in the direction from the head 1D toward the
head 1A. For this reason, the carriage 2 is once scanned in the direction
of arrow FD and the cleaning blade 24 is returned to its initial position
by the resetting pawl 35, whereafter the carriage 2 may be scanned in the
direction of arrow BK.
While the above embodiment has been described with respect to a case where
the discharge port faces of a plurality of recording heads for discharging
inks of plural colors are wiped, the present invention is not restricted
thereto.
For example, the present invention is also applicable to the wiping of the
discharge port face of a recording head having a plurality of discharge
ports for discharging inks of plural colors.
Referring to FIG. 9 which is a schematic pictorial perspective view showing
an embodiment of the ink jet recording apparatus of the present invention,
the reference numeral 1000 designates an ink jet recording apparatus body,
the reference numeral 1100 denotes a main switch, and the reference
numeral 1200 designates an operating panel.
According to the embodiment described above, the ink discharge port faces
of the plurality of recording heads 1A-1D are effectively wiped in a
predetermined order by a single cleaning blade 24, whereby dust, paper
scraps or viscosity-increased ink adhering to the ink discharge port faces
of the recording heads can be reliably removed.
Also, since wiping of the recording heads 1A-1D is carried out by one and
the same cleaning blade 24, the structure of the wiping means can be made
fewer in the number of parts and simple as well as compact and highly
reliable, and this leads to the possibility of compactness, lighter weight
and reduced cost of the ink jet recording apparatus.
As is apparent from the foregoing description, according to the present
invention, the wiping means for cleaning the ink discharge port faces of
the recording heads can be made simple and compact and improved in
reliability, whereby there can be provided an ink jet recording apparatus
which can generally be made light in weight and compact.
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